Cooler

ABSTRACT

A COOLER IN WHICH FLUID MAY BE COOLED, AND FROM WHICH FLUID MAY BE DISPENSED BY OPERATION OF A DISPENSER ASSOCIATED WITH THE FUEL INTAKE OF A GASOLINE ENGINE IN A CAR, TRUCK, BOAT OR OTHER VEHICLE. THE COOLER INCLUDES A GASOLINE VAPORIZER IN A CONTAINER HAVING A PARTITION, PREFERABLY A CUP, AT LEAST PARTLY ENCLOSING THE VAPORIZER. THE VAPORIZER INCLUDES A FIRST TUBE AND A SECOND TUBE, PREFERABLY COILED, WITH THE SECOND TUBE BEING LOCATED INSIDE THE FIRST TUBE. PREFERABLY, THERE ARE: (1) A FLUID INLET LEADING FROM THE CONTAINER INTO THE PARTITIONING CUP, (2) A GASOLINE INLET LEADING INTO THE SECOND TUBE, (3) AN AIR INLET LEADING INTO THE FIRST TUBE TO SUPPLY AIR TO AN AREA THEREIN WHERE GASOLINE IS VAPORIZED, (4) AN EXHAUST OUTLET FOR THE FIRST TUBE TO DRAW A GASOLINE-AIR MIXTURE THROUGH THE FIRST TUBE OVER THE SECOND TUBE FOR COOLING PURPOSES, AND (5) A FLUID OUTLET FOR SUPPLYING COOLED FLUID FROM THE CUP TO THE DISPENSER. THUS, FLUID MAY BE STORED IN THE CONTAINER, COOLED IN THE PARTITIONING CUP OR SHELL, AND DISPENSED FROM THE SHELL.

E. H. PATRICK Sept. 20, 1971 COOLER Filed Feb. 16, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVETOR. EARNEST H. PATRICK FIG. 3

SETTLE & OLTMAN ATTORNEY E. H. PATRICK Sept. 20, 1971 COOLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 16, 1.970

FIG .9

FIG.7

INVENTOR. EARNEST H. PATRICK SETTLE & OLTMAN ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 20, 1971 3,605,421 COOLER Earnest H. Patrick, 1301 SW. 56th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33314 Filed Feb. 16, 1970, Ser. No. 11,550 Int. Cl. F25b 19/00 US. Cl. 62-7 19 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cooler in which fluid may be cooled, and from which fluid may be dispensed by operation of a dispenser associated with the fuel intake of a gasoline engine in a car, truck, boat or other vehicle. The cooler includes a gasoline vaporizer in a container having a partition, preferably a cup, at least partly enclosing the vaporizer. The vaporizer includes a first tube and a second tube, preferably coiled, with the second tube being located inside the first tube. Preferably, there are: (1) a fluid inlet leading from the container into the partitioning cup, (2) a gasoline inlet leading into the second tube, (3) an air inlet leading into the first tube to supply air to an area therein where gasoline is vaporized, (4) an exhaust outlet for the first tube to draw a gasoline-air mixture through the first tube over the second tube for cooling purposes, and (5) a fluid outlet for suppling cooled fluid from the cup to the dispenser. Thus, fluid may be stored in the container, cooled in the partitioning cup or shell, and dispensed from the shell.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known to use a gasoline vaporizer for cooling purposes in an air conditionerpHowever, so far as is known to the present inventor, there has been no device for cooling liquids with a gasoline vaporizer in a vehicle in a manner to allow dispensing of cold fluid, such as a soft drink, from a dispenser in the vehicle.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cooler for use with a dispenser in a vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a cooler in which cooling is accomplished by a gasoline vaporizer device which receives gasoline from the fuel system of the vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cooler in which fluid may be stored in a container, cooled in a shell inside the container by means of a gasoline vaporizing heat exchanger inside said shell, and dispensed from the shell by means of a dispenser device.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

On the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cooler in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, and also showing a dispenser for dispensing liquid from the cooler;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a top portion of the cooler;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the cooler taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a shell and vaporizing heat exchanger with various inlets and outlets as taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of first and second tubes taken along line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the bottom of a shell shown in FIGS. 3 and 4; and

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As shown on the drawings:

A cooler which constitutes a preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings includes an insulating container 10 which may be of the type having an outer wall 12 and an inner wall 14 with heat insulating material 16 between the walls. The construction of the heat insulating container is not critical to the invention. The container 10 has a closure 18 normally closing the mouth 20 of the container, the skirt 22 of the closure and the neck 24 of the container being threaded so that the closure may be screwed on and off the neck of the container.

Inside the container 10 there is a partitioning shell 26 which is in the form of a cup having a cylindrical wall and a bottom wall as shown. The shell or cup 26 has a lip 28 at the top thereof, and a sealing ring 30 is placed under the lip 28 and is clamped to the mouth 20 of the container so as to seal the interior of the cup from communication with the interior of the container except through an inlet 32 at the bottom of the cup 26. A

The inlet 32 comprises a tube 34 attached by means of inner and outer washers 36- (see particularly FIGS. 4 and 8) to the bottom wall 38 of the cup 26. The tube 34 extends upwardly from the bottom wall 38 coaxially with the side wall of the cup 26 to a top end 40 (FIG. 4) which is close to but spaced from the closure 18.

Liquid, such as a soft drink or other drink is stored in the container 10 outside the cup 26. The liquid enters the inlet 32 and rises in tube 34 to the height of the liquid in the container 10. When pressure inside the cup 26 is reduced in a manner to be described later, the liquid rises further in tube 34 and overflows the top end 40 thereof into the cup 26. The container 10' has a vent opening 42 near the top thereof which communicates with the outside atmosphere and allows equalization of pressure in the space above the liquid inside the container 10. Thus, a partial vacuum is not produced in the container 10 when liquid flows into the cup 26.

A fluid outlet 44 is provided, and the outlet 44 is adapted to be connected as by a conduit 46 (FIG. 1)

to a dispenser device 48 for dispensing fluid into a re' ceptacle 50. The fluid outlet 44 consists of a tube 52 which extends through and is secured to the closure 18. The bottom end 54 of the tube 52 is close to but spaced from the bottom wall 38 of the cup 26. The top end 56 of the tube 52 is outside the container 10, and the conduit 46 is attached to the top end 56- of tube 52.

If reduced pressure is applied to the fluid outlet 44 by means of the conduit 46, liquid is drawn from the inside of the cup 26 through the tube 52 and the conduit 46 to the dispenser device 48. The dispenser device 48 is designed to apply this reduced pressure to the outlet 44 when one desires to dispense liquid from the container 10. The dispenser device 48 may be of a known construction, and preferably has an inlet 58 adapted to be connected by a conduit 60 to the intake manifold of the engine of a vehicle in which the dispenser device 48 is mounted. As

previously mentioned, the cooler of the invention is intended for use in a vehicle which has a gasoline engine, and the conduit 60 is connected to the intake manifold of the engine. The dispenser device 48 has another inlet 62 which is connected to the conduit 46. Device 48 also includes a suitable valve for opening and closing the inlets 58 and 62. When the button 64 is extended, the valve is closed, but when the button 64 is pushed in, the valves are opened so that both inlet 52 and inlet 62 communicate with the space within the receptacle 50 which is in the form of a glass or cup. The cup 50 is sealed to a plate 66 shown in dashed lines through which a spout 68 of the dispenser extends. Thus, when the button 64 is pushed in, reduced pressure is applied through conduit 60 and inlet 58 to the space inside the cup 50. This reduced pressure is also applied via conduit 46 through the fluid outlet 44.

Thus, liquid flows on the inside of the cup 26 through conduit 46, inlet 62 and spout 68 to the cup 50 and gradually fills the cup. When the level of the liquid in cup 50 rises to a predetermined level, say one inch from. the top of the cup 50, the weight of the cup 50 with its liquid contents causes the seal between cup and plate 66 to break, and this dissipates the reduced pressure which previouly existed inside the cup 50 and causes the flow of liquid from container to stop.

As liquid flows out through fluid outlet 44, liquid also flows from the inside of container 10 through the fluid inlet 32 up through tube 34 and over the top end 40 thereof into the inside of the cup 26, thus replenishing the liquid which has been removed from the inside of the cup.

A heat exchanger 70 of the gasoline vaporizing type is provided inside the shell or cup 26. The heat exchanger 70 consists of an outer tube 72 and an inner tube 74 located within but spaced from the wall of the outer tube 72. The tubes 72 and 74 are coiled to form a cylindrical coil as shown.

A gasoline inlet 76 which extends through and is secured to the closure 18 is adapted to be connected by means of a suitable conduit to the fuel system of the vehicle in which the cooler is used. The gasoline inlet 76 leads into the interior of the shell or cup 26 and may be coiled around the exterior of the tube 72 in the manner shown in FIG. 5. At 78 the gasoline inlet 76 enters the tube 72 by passing through the wall of the tube 72 in the manner shown in the FIG. 6. Gasoline flows through the inlet 76 into the tube 74, and flows through the inner tube 74 down through the length of the heat exchanger 70 to an opening 80 at the bottom end thereof as shown in FIG. 9. Gasoline is discharged from the open end 80 to be vaporized inside the outer tube 72.

An air inlet 82 extends through and is secured to the closure 18. The air inlet 82 leads into the inside of the cup 26 and extends to the bottom of the cup where a portion of the inlet 82 is shown in FIG. 4. This portion of the air inlet 82 is also shown in FIGS. 7 and 9 in an enlarged form. It may be seen that the air inlet 82 enters the closed end 84 of the outer tube 72, as shown particularly in FIG. 9, and extends through an open end 86 which is spaced a short distance from the open end 80 of inner tube 74. Air flows from the open end 86 and is mixed with the gasoline which is vaporizing in the space adjacent open end 80 and inner tube 74.

The gasoline-air mixture flows from open ends 80 and 86 back over the outside of inner tube 74 within the outer tube 72. The suction needed to produce this flow is obtained via an exhaust outlet 88 (see particularly FIG. 4) which is connected to the upper end of outer tube 72. The exhaust outlet 88 may be a portion of tube 72, and it is attached to and extends through the closure 18 so as to suspend the coils 72 and 74 from the closure 18. The exhaust outlet 88 is connected through a suitable conduit (not shown) to the intake manifold of the engine of the vehicle in which. the cooler is used. Thus, the gasolineair mixture is drawn back through the length of the heat exchanger 70 and is supplied via exhaust outlet 88 to the 4 intake manifold of the engine where the gasoline-air mixture may be burned along with the normal fuel intake for the engine. Further carburation of this gasoline-air mixture may be accomplished if desired.

The gasoline-air mixture flowing up through tube 72 and over the outside of tube 74 pre-cools the gasoline flowing inside tube 74, and also cools the space around the exterior of outer tube 72. Thus, this cooling action of the heat exchanger serves to chill or cool the liquid inside the cup 26.

In this manner, it is possible to chill a soft drink or other drink inside the cup or shell 26 without having to chill the entire contents of the container 10 at the same time. Liquid is stored in the container 10, chilled in the shell 26, and dispensed from the shell 26 by operation of the dispenser 48. As liquid is dispensed from the shell 26, it is replaced by flow of liquid from the container 10 through inlet 32 into the shell 26.

It is believed to be apparent from the foregoing description that the invention provides a cooler in which liquid can be stored and from which liquid can be dispensed in a convenient fashion by means of the vacuum dispenser device 48. The cooler is reliable in operation, and can be manufactured on an economical basis. It takes advantage of the low cost operation of a gasoline vaporizing type of heat exchanger in which the refrigerant or cooling medium is gasoline supplied from the fuel system of the vehicle.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A cooler for use in a vehicle having a gasoline engine with a fuel intake providing a source of reduced pres sure, and for use with a dispenser for applying reduced pressure from said source to a receptacle into which fluid is to be dispensed, said cooler comprising a heat insulating container, a cooling coil at least partly within said container consisting of a first tube and a second tube within said first tube and spaced from the wall thereof, a gasoline inlet leading into said second tube for supplying gasoline thereto from the fuel system of the vehicle for fiow through said second tube, said second tube having a first opening in said first tube for discharging gasoline to vaporize the same, an air inlet leading into said second tube and having a second opening for discharging air adjacent said first opening to be mixed with the vaporizing gasoline, an exhaust outlet for said first tube adapted to communicate with said fuel intake, said exhaust outlet being separated from said first opening by a substantial length of said tubes so that the gasoline air mixture may be drawn through said first tube back over said second tube to pre-cool gasoline in said first tube and also to cool a space outside said first tube, a shell at least partially enclosing said coil and located within said container but sealed from communication therewith except at inlet means leading from the inside of said container to the inside of said shell for flow of fluid from said container to the inside of said shell, and outlet means providing a flow path for fluid flow from the inside of said shell to the outside of said container, said outlet means being adapted to be connected to said dispenser, so that fluid may be (1) stored in said container, (2) cooled in said shell, and (3) dispensed from said shell by operation of said dispenser.

2. A cooler as claimed in claim 1 in which said container is closed but is vented to the atmosphere for equalization of pressure therein.

3. A cooler as claimed in claim 2 in which said container has a closure on a mouth at the top thereof, and said shell is suspended from said mouth and clamped thereto by said closure.

4. A cooler as claimed in claim 3 in which said shell has a cylindrical wall extending from said mouth into said container, and a bottom at the inner end of said wall.

5. A cooler as claimed in claim 4 in which said coil is cylindrical and is located adjacent said cylindrical wall.

6. A cooler as claimed in claim 1 in which said container has a removable closure at a top portion thereof, and said exhaust outlet and said outlet means extend through said closure.

7. A cooler as claimed in claim 6 in which said gasoline inlet and said air inlet also extend through said closure.

8. A cooler as claimed in claim 6 in which said coil is suspended from said closure.

9. A cooler as claimed in claim 6 in which said shell is suspended from a mouth of said container and is clamped against said mouth by said closure.

10. A cooler as claimed in claim 9 in which said shell has a cup-shape.

11. A cooler as claimed in claim in which said coil is located adjacent a side wall of said shell.

12. A cooler for use in a vehicle having a gasoline engine with a fuel intake providing a source of reduced pressure, and for use with a dispenser for applying reduced pressure from said source to a receptacle in a manner to dispense fluid from said cooler to said receptacle, said cooler comprising:

(1) a container,

(2) a gasoline vaporizer at least partly in said container including (a) a first tube,

(b) a second tube within and spaced from the wall of said first tube,

(c) a gasoline inlet leading into said second tube for supplying gasoline thereto from the fuel system of the vehicle, said second tube having means to discharge gasoline in said first tube to vaporize the same,

(d) an air inlet leading into said second tube where the gasoline is vaporized,

(e) and an exhaust outlet for said first tube adapted to communicate with said fuel intake and draw a gasoline-air mixture through said first tube over a substantial length of said second tube for cooling purposes,

(3) a partition at least partially enclosing said vaporizer and located within said container but sealed from communication therewith except at inlet means leading from the inside of said container to the inside of said partition,

(4) an outlet means providing a conduit for flow of fluid from the inside of said partition to the outside of said container, said outlet means being adapted to be connected to said dispenser so that fluid cooled in said partition may .be dispensed by operation of said dispenser with said partition being refilled by flow from said container.

13. A cooler as claimed in claim 12 in which said container is vented.

14. A cooler as claimed in claim 12 in which said first and second tubes are coiled in said container.

15. A cooler as claimed in claim 12 in which said partion comprises a cup.

16. A cooler as claimed in claim 15 in which said tubes are coiled in said cup.

17. A cooler as claimed in claim 16 in which said container has a removable closure, and said exhaust outlet extends through said closure such that said tubes are suspended from said closure.

18. A cooler as claimed in claim 17 in which said air inlet, said gasoline inlet, and said outlet means also extend through said closure.

19. A cooler for use in a vehicle having a gasoline engine with a fuel intake providing a source of reduced pressure, and for use with a dispenser for applying reduced pressure from said source to a receptacle in a manner to dispense fluid from said cooler to said receptacle, said cooler comprising:

(1) a container,

(2) a heat exchanger at least partly in said container,

(3) a partition at least partially enclosing said heat exchanger and located within said container but sealed from communication therewith except at inlet means leading from the inside of said container to the inside of said partition,

(4) and outlet means providing a conduit for fiow of fluid from the inside of said partition to the outside of said container, said outlet means being adapted to be connected to said dispenser so that fluid cooled in said partition may be dispensed by operation of said dispenser with said partition being refilled by flow from said container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,136,527 11/1938 Stelzer 62-7 2,438,594 3/ 1948 Zopart 62-7 2,800,776 7/1957 Woodmansee 62-7 2,872,790 2/ 1959 Simpson 62-7 3,109,291 11/1963 Turner 62-7 WILLIAM J. WYE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 62-394 

